Sunday, February 14, 2010

What are the issues?

It’s been a pretty dull election so far, hasn’t it?

Macclesfield is hardly awash with election fever. When I meet people and introduce myself as the Liberal Democrat candidate their reaction is invariably polite, but you can tell that the election is not the most important thing on their minds. Even the national media has failed to get the public to wake up and take an interest, despite doing its best to build big stories around Brown’s dithering (not much new there) or Cameron’s confusion as he tries to please everyone with pre-election promises (not much new there either).

So I can forgive electors for lack of enthusiasm for the platforms of the two main parties as I set out to convince them that what we offer from the Liberal Democrats truly is different. That we can fix the parliamentary system and not just fudge it. That we can lift the tax burden off the lower paid and make Britain a fairer place to live in. That we can simplify the benefits system, making it easier for those in real need and harder for frauds to cheat. That we can sort out the banks so they stop paying themselves gross bonuses with taxpayers’ money. That although the massive public sector deficit the Labour Government has gotten us into has got to be cut, this must be done carefully and sensibly, not with the draconian enthusiasm of the Conservatives which would stall the fragile recovery, or (to use a more seasonal metaphor) blast the green shoots with a hard frost.

Anyway, let’s hope that in Macclesfield, at least, voters overcome their apathy and turn out in force on May 6th – or whenever the date turns out to be.